When the government began allowing individuals to start their own companies a few years later, the couple leveraged their contacts and won a contract with General Motors to sell Buicks, Chevrolets and Cadillacs in China.

Weekdays at 3 p.m., sirens would sound and thousands of men would stream out from fortress-like walls and drive home in newly-bought cars -- almost all Buicks or Chevrolets -- while the next shift would pass them from the other direction on their way to work.